Appeal No. 2004-0088 Page 4
Application No. 09/821,663
In rejecting claims under 35 U.S.C. § 103, the examiner bears the initial burden
of presenting a prima facie case of obviousness. See In re Rijckaert, 9 F.3d 1531,
1532, 28 USPQ2d 1955, 1956 (Fed. Cir. 1993). A prima facie case of obviousness is
established by presenting evidence that would have led one of ordinary skill in the art to
combine the relevant teachings of the references to arrive at the claimed invention.
See In re Fine, 837 F.2d 1071, 1074, 5 USPQ2d 1596, 1598 (Fed. Cir. 1988) and In re
Lintner, 458 F.2d 1013, 1016, 173 USPQ 560, 562 (CCPA 1972).
All the claims under appeal recite a dispenser comprising, inter alia,
(1) a housing comprising a top section and a bottom section forming an enclosure with
an interior surface wherein the top section and the bottom section are attached so that
the top section may be removed from engagement with the bottom section without
being separated from the bottom section;
(2) the bottom section having a restraining holder for the pill;
(3) the top section having a closing element that engages with the restraining holder
within the bottom section to prevent the pill from moving without restraint within the
enclosure;
(4) a pill within the restraining holder;
(5) the enclosure having no more than four separate restraining holders within the
enclosure; and
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